Horizon 2020 RESPOND Multi-level Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond by Dr Umut Korkut
With the goal of enhancing the governance capacity and policy coherence of the EU, its member states and neighbors, RESPOND is a
comprehensive study of migration governance in the wake of the 2015 Refugee Crisis. Bringing together 14 partners from 7 disciplines, the project
probes policy-making processes and policy (in)coherence through comparative research in source, transit and destination countries. RESPOND
analyzes migration governance across macro (transnational, national), meso (sub-national/local) and micro-levels (refugees/migrants) by applying
an innovative research methodology utilizing legal and policy analysis, comparative historical analysis, political claims analysis, socio-economic
and cultural analysis, longitudinal survey analysis, interview based analysis, and photovoice techniques. It focuses in-depth on: (1) Border
management and security, (2) International refugee protection, (3) Reception policies, (4) Integration policies, and (5) Conflicting Europeanization
and externalization. We use these themes to examine multi-level governance while tackling the troubling question of the role of forced migration in
precipitating increasing disorder in Europe. In contrast to much research undertaken on governance processes at a single level of analysis,
RESPOND’s multilevel, multi-method approach shows the co-constitutive relationship between policy and practice among actors at all three levels;
it highlights the understudied role of meso-level officials; and it shines a light on the activities of non-governmental actors in the face of policy
vacuums. Ultimately, RESPOND will show which migration governance policies really work and how migrants and officials are making-do in the
too-frequent absence of coherent policies. Adhering to a refugee-centered approach throughout, RESPOND will bring insights to citizenship,
gender and integration studies, ensure direct benefit to refugee communities and provide a basis for more effective policy development.
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